Jace
Masculine
Jace is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 91,544 boys against 868 girls since 1880. See Jace as a girl name
Jace has been on American records since the first half of the twentieth century, sitting quietly for decades as a clipped form of Jason before its own wave arrived. One syllable, ending in that soft hiss shared with Grace, Chase and Bruce, it is the kind of name people hear once and can say back. Familiar to most ears, yet unlikely to be doubled up in a classroom.
How old is the name Jace?
Jace first appears in US birth records in 1936 — 89 years ago. The typical Jace is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 90,500 people named Jace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jace most popular?
Jace peaked in 2013, reaching #66 nationally. Today it ranks #114, 48 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Where it comes from
From Iason to Jace
The story of Jace
Jace is an English-language creation, built by shortening rather than translating. Jason itself reached English through the Greek Iason, a name carried by classical myth and later by the Greek-speaking world of the New Testament; by the twentieth century Jason had become common enough in the United States that its clipped form began appearing on birth records in its own right. For decades Jace stayed a minor presence, then rose sharply alongside the broader American taste for short, hard-consonant boys' names ending in that -ace and -ase sound. It also picked up literary reinforcement: in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments novels, first published in 2007, the character called Jace is short for Jonathan Christopher — the initials reading, in print.
Meaningscholars disagree
Two serious readings: 'healer' by way of Jason, or simply the initials J.C. said aloud
Jace works most often as a short form of Jason, which comes from Greek Iason, connected to the verb meaning 'to heal'. But it has also arisen independently as a spoken spelling of the initials J.C. — a habit with a long history in the American South, where initials often served as a whole name. Neither road cancels the other; a given Jace may descend from either.
Cultural footprint
Jace Norman (b. 2000) — Henry Danger star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Iason
- Jason
- Jace
Related forms: Jason · Jayce · Jase · Iason · Jasón
Pronouncing Jace
JAYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. The c is soft; nobody reads it as a k.
Nicknames for Jace
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1936
- Most boys named
- 20136,401 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #66reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- −4.0%3,083 in 2025, from 3,212
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jace in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jason in English — related form
- Jayce in English — spelling variant
- Jase in English — spelling variant
- Iason in Greek — related form
- Jasón in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jaces among us
people named Jace are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 554 born in 2025 was named Jace
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jace
- #114
- Jace on the 2025 chart
- #107
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jace went to 3,083 boys in 2025, but Jase is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 3,463, which makes it the 107th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7 places above the chart.
- Jace3,083
- Jase375
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 493 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 554 for Jace itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alvin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jace's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alvin climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alvin's path sketches the road Jace is walking now.
Jace is coming down from a big peak (#66 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jace is headed
Jace should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jace beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jace in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters — short enough for a child to write early, and said the same way on first attempt by almost any English speaker.
- Comes with a ready formal counterpart in Jason, if a longer version is ever wanted on a document or a résumé.
- Has a genuine record on US birth registers going back generations, so it is not a recent invention despite its recent wave.
- Takes the everyday short form Jay without effort, and Jay works in every English-speaking country.
- The spelling competes with Jayce, Jase and Jacen, all in real use. Expect to spell it aloud fairly often, even though yours is the plainest of the set.
- The name's wave is very recent, so most people carrying it are still children and teenagers. It will read as young for a while, then age with its generation as every such name does.
- At one syllable there is little to shorten, which suits some families and frustrates others who like a nickname to grow into.
- In a noisy room Jace, Chase and Jake can blur together — worth a thought if the surname also starts with a hard consonant.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jace to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jace
Masculine · #114 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jaces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 90,500 people named Jace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jace?
- Jace is the most-used spelling in US records — 3,083 of the 3,463 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jase.
- How popular is the name Jace in 2025?
- Jace ranks #114 among US boy names in 2025, with 3,083 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jace?
- About 1 in every 554 US boys born in 2025 was named Jace — 3,083 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jace with classmates?
- Jace will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jace
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Austin#113 · Jaxon#115 · Nicholas#112 · Harrison#116 · River#111 · Lorenzo#117 · Callum#118 · Easton#110
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jace? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jace and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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